At 98 metres tall, Peter The Great’s Monument is the eighth tallest statue in the world. For easy comparison, it is taller than New York's Statue of Liberty (93m). The statue lies on an artificial island overlooking the Moscow river, and shows the Tsar navigating a ship wheel. It was designed by Zurab Tsereteli to celebrate 300 years of the Russian Navy, which had been established by Peter the Great. To the left of the photo, you can see Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the biggest orthodox church in the world.
The statue has an unfortunate history of rejection, and there are stories that the statue of Peter is the altered statue of Christopher Columbus after it had been rejected by the USA to commemorate the discovery of America. When the Americans refused to accept it, the designer is rumoured to have replaced Columbus’s head with that of the Russian Tsar. Peter the Great hated Moscow, and Muscovite's mostly feel the same way about this 'ugly' statue - a large petition of signatures were collected in favour of demolishing it, and there have also been reports of plots to blow it up. The statue has since been fenced off and guarded.
When I walked past, I didn’t know what to make of it, many locals feel that that it is ugly and odd, but I think its quite cool. It gives off a sense of prestige and is a nice reminder of Russia’s naval strength.
